Thinking About Mobile Marketing For Your Small Business?

Create a Mobile Marketing Strategy For Your Small Business 2012. Are you there yet?

You. Mobile. Marketing. 

In 2012 we enjoy a vast array of technologies (understatement of the year) that are “on” 24x7x365.

We can browse, send/receive messages, engage with applications, rich media and ‘talk’ to the world right from our light-weight, travelling devices.

Smartphones are more than smart…they follow you, and depending on settings, they’ll know where you are, and with a social following too.

And, it’s all there to help your prospects & customers get what they need, when they need it. When somebody searches for your business, a local pizza, dentist or hair-dresser for example — you’d better show up — either naturally (SEO), paid (Adwords & mobile pay networks). And, your web site or content should be mobile and ‘call’ ready. (click to call)

It only makes sense that businesses create, update and review strategies for mobile marketing.  And yes, it’s another shiny object (literally) – but that does not mean you should not consider planning and thoughtful execution of those strategies. It’s not just “try it and forget it”. It is another marketing channel, another medium to test.

Here are some insights to consider for your new mobile marketing venture.

comScore reported in 2010 that people enjoyed smart phones more than ever:

“31.9% of all mobile subscribers used a Web browser on a mobile device in the three
months ending in May 2010. That’s up from 26% in comScore’s September 2009 three‐month average. And, 30% downloaded a mobile app in the three months ending in May, compared to
6.7% in the September 2009 three‐month average.” - comScore

The year of mobile marketing is here, and has been for a number years. The adoption rate is more rapid, more mature, and the iPhone Apps download directory is massively popular…and profitable to iPhone/iPad developers.

There are different ways to present data in the mobile landscape. Here are the most common:

1. A mobile version of existing web sites, slightly modified, full featured browsing.

2. Mobile friendly plugins and conversion tools for blogs (ex: WordPress).

3. Specialized, customized and optimized web sites for mobile use specifically. An example is m.google.com

4. Special one page mobile optimized content to serve a unique need.

Mobile marketing can include voice, text, email & apps. These can all be served up using GPS technology (geo-targeted). SMS, MMS in combination with the aforementioned, and special rich context like videos, pictures, e-books can easily be distributed / downloaded.

Capturing leads from regular landing pages are common. What’s not as common still is to capture phone data with SMS confirmation and follow up. However, a SMS text message for something as simple as a webinar or teleseminar reminder will improve your attendance rate significantly.

Adding QR codes, coupons, and call-to-action response devices should be strongly consider for local businesses.  The rich, multi-channel experience is simply smart marketing. It’s not a standalone thing, and if tagged, tracked and analyzed (web analytics can show how many users are currently visiting your website from smart phones), you’ll see what’s working, and what’s not. The things you measure will bring awareness for action and change. Make sure you track everything.

Your goals should be clear before starting any campaign. Do your demographics work, establish short and long term goals, media and resources budgets.

And, user behavioral patterns (what people do on smart phones) are important. In the US, we see a break-down as such (from comScore). Not all of these are marketing tools, but interesting to see (and think about):

1. Text messaging (70%)

2. Checking email and app use

3. Social networking

4. Games

5. Music

6. QR Codes

You may consider getting mobile marketing certified, and tons more resources are found on the Mobile Marketing Association website and the http://mobilemarketer.com site.

In addition, there some cool mobile website tools to build out your site:

1. Mofuse

2. Movitas

3. GetGoMobi

You’ll also want to think about using the mobile marketing strategies in anything you do – you know, “integrated marketing”. Link to it, add it to your desktop website, email signature, business cards, advertising, mobile advertising campaigns, etc.

You can find text messaging vendors here. (USA) And, mobile B2B Marketing Resources are here.

Easy, free tool to check if your mobile website is truly mobile ready.

Mobile marketing and social marketing should be considered part of your small business marketing strategy in 2012. What are you and your competition is doing in this area? And, how are they finding you?

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